A Curricular Unit Depicting the Lives of Migrant Farm Workers Presented to the Lee Honors College At Western Michigan University By Kendra A. Grieser
*Special Thanks to Thesis Mentor Dr. Karen Vocke and Thesis Committee Members Dr. Allen Webb and Mr. Rick Ward.
This unit is designed with a three-fold purpose: 1) to introduce and inform non-migrant students, teachers, and community members about migrant students 2) to empower migrant students in the classroom and validate their experiences 3) to empower and inspire all students to change their world through service projects in their local community. The hope is that this unit will be included in a local migrant education website as a resource for teachers and other educators to use in order to give individuals a better understanding of the migrant way of life.
Photo Courtesy of http://bigteaparty.com/farm-workers-in-the-us/
Photo Courtesy of http://the-reaction.blogspot.com/2011/01/trawberry-fields-forever.html
Literature Circles: http://abcteach.com/directory/basics/reading/literature_circles/:The following is a link to the resources for literature circles. It includes a downloadable PDF of each of the roles (connector, discussion director, illustrator, literary luminary, summarizer, travel chaser, vocabulary enricher) which are used in the unit as well as PDF of a literature circle planner, task list, and notes page. A PDF of ways to share books is also available.
Writing Conferences: http://www.strategicwritingconferences.com/samples.aspx: The following is a resource by Carl Anderson on writing conferences. Under the heading Teaching Guide on this website, there are three other links which open as PDF's:
An Overview of Conferring
This gives a step-by-step guide of how to confer with students about their writing. In particular, I use a portion of this guide (The First Part of the Writing Conference: Identifying the Student’s Needs and The Second Part of the Writing Conference: Teaching the Writing Strategy or Craft Technique) in the unit to create a dialogue to conference with students. This portion is also located on another part of the website: http://www.strategicwritingconferences.com/faqs.aspx.
Strategic Writing Conferences Diagnostic Guides
This diagnostic guide is a great resource for teachers. It gives a problem/solution set to help students confer and write (i.e. the student’s problem in his/her writing and the solution the teacher can attempt in order to solve the problem with the student) as well as a page number in Carl Anderson’s corresponding book.
Conference Walkthrough
This is an excerpt of the first chapter of one Anderson’s books, Strategic Writing Conferences: Teacher’s Guide. It shows the setup of his book as well as how to help a student write a list in order to help him/her find a topic for writing.
Presented to the Lee Honors College
At Western Michigan University
By Kendra A. Grieser
*Special Thanks to Thesis Mentor Dr. Karen Vocke and Thesis Committee Members Dr. Allen Webb and Mr. Rick Ward.
This unit is designed with a three-fold purpose:
1) to introduce and inform non-migrant students, teachers, and community members about migrant students
2) to empower migrant students in the classroom and validate their experiences
3) to empower and inspire all students to change their world through service projects in their local community.
The hope is that this unit will be included in a local migrant education website as a resource for teachers and other educators to use in order to give individuals a better understanding of the migrant way of life.
Migrant Thesis
Migrant Thesis Abstract:
Migrant Introduction:
Migrant Unit:
Unit Resources
This Migrant Earth Discussion Questions:
The Circuit Discussion Questions:
Reading Journals:
Literature Circles:
http://abcteach.com/directory/basics/reading/literature_circles/:The following is a link to the resources for literature circles. It includes a downloadable PDF of each of the roles (connector, discussion director, illustrator, literary luminary, summarizer, travel chaser, vocabulary enricher) which are used in the unit as well as PDF of a literature circle planner, task list, and notes page. A PDF of ways to share books is also available.
Writing Conferences:
http://www.strategicwritingconferences.com/samples.aspx: The following is a resource by Carl Anderson on writing conferences. Under the heading Teaching Guide on this website, there are three other links which open as PDF's:
- An Overview of Conferring
This gives a step-by-step guide of how to confer with students about their writing. In particular, I use a portion of this guide (The First Part of the Writing Conference: Identifying the Student’s Needs and The Second Part of the Writing Conference: Teaching the Writing Strategy or Craft Technique) in the unit to create a dialogue to conference with students. This portion is also located on another part of the website: http://www.strategicwritingconferences.com/faqs.aspx.- Strategic Writing Conferences Diagnostic Guides
This diagnostic guide is a great resource for teachers. It gives a problem/solution set to help students confer and write (i.e. the student’s problem in his/her writing and the solution the teacher can attempt in order to solve the problem with the student) as well as a page number in Carl Anderson’s corresponding book.- Conference Walkthrough
This is an excerpt of the first chapter of one Anderson’s books, Strategic Writing Conferences: Teacher’s Guide. It shows the setup of his book as well as how to help a student write a list in order to help him/her find a topic for writing.Writer's Workshop:
http://www.ttms.org/index.htm: This is the home page for Teaching That Makes Sense by Steve Peha. The seventh link on the left side under downloads (in green) is WELCOME TO WRITER’S WORKSHOP: A Quick and Easy Introduction For a Quick and Successful Start. This is a great resource on writing workshops and how to format them (mini-lesson, status of the class, writing time, sharing). The setup used in the unit is adapted from Peha’s idea. Rather than going to the homepage, this information can be accessed at the following link: https://ttms.box.net/shared/static/18htc7rcb2.pdf. It should open as a PDF to download.
Handouts, Requirements, Grading Ideas, Etc.
Additional Resources:
power and inspire all students to change their world